By Wendy Kennedy (Editor, Register.com Learning Center)
In today’s online world, your domain name is your brand. It is your signpost on a busy street and the main thing you need customers to remember in order to keep coming back to your business time and again.
Choosing your domain name (otherwise known as your website address) is one of the most important things you will do for your online business -- so careful attention should be paid to ensure you select the perfect domain for you. Your domain name needs to be at least two characters long and cannot contain symbols (such as $, # or @). As you may know if you have begun searching for a domain, the number of available ".com" names is limited but there are some things you can do to help find the best domain for your business.
- Keep it short and easy to remember. Too many words or overly creative spellings of words may help you find a domain name but will do little good if a potential customer cannot remember your website address.
- Add geography. Adding your location to your domain may not only help you find an available name, it could also help potential customers find your site through local search. (Local search is when potential customers are looking on the search engines for your type of business in your town). For example, as of this article, Pizza.com was not available but EastonPizza.com was.
- Don’t invent words. Yes, there are some sites (such as Google) that have become hugely successful by inventing their own words to use as their site names but unless you have a sizable marketing budget to help make the name of your site a household word, I recommend going with a combination of words that already mean something.
As mentioned above, many of the most intuitive ".com" names are already registered. There are other options such as going with a ".net" or ".biz" name but ".com" is by far the most popular. I recommend going with a ".com" whenever possible.
Another option is to select a premium domain. These are pre-registered domains that are back on the market for resale. Premium domains do cost more than available domains. Premiums can range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars but depending on the revenue you plan to generate from your site, it may be worth the investment to secure a great name.
Most major domain registrars offer the ability to search both available and premium domains on their websites. (Check out this list of the cheapest domain name registrars.)
Having the right domain name (one that customers will remember and easily associate with your brand) can increase the traffic on your site. You can also drive traffic by including your domain in all of your marketing efforts (online and offline). The bottom line is more web site traffic can mean more sales. Your domain name will help get potential customers to your site - but the design/functionality of the site will help you convert them -- that, however, is a topic for another article.
Wendy Kennedy is the creator and editor of the Register.com Learning Center (an online resource site for Small Businesses). She has over ten years of experience developing marketing and awareness programs with small businesses and entrepreneurs. Wendy lives with her husband and son in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.